Place: Reviews & Ratings

Reviews by sleazo:

I enjoy the locavore movemennt though it is a bit too strict for me. I do admire the cocept of not having anything travel so far to get to you both from an environmental and more important a taste factor. Things grown/raised near you that have less of a distance to travel will generally have a better flavour to them. So in keeping with this I have been meaning to try this place for a couple of months now. I was able to try it last friday.

While waiting for my friends to arrive on an extremely humid day i sat at the bar to the right as you walk in. Decorwise this really could be any other Manhattan restaurant, not too done up, but not TGIF either. They had six taps and another 20 or so on bottles. I had a caskazilla from Ithaca out of the bottle and i had to ask for a glass. For a place trying to serve good beer, this should not be a request.

Other beers offered were Chelsea Blonde, Southhampton wit, Mother's milk Stout from Keegan, Brooklyn Local One, Pork Slap, Harlem Brewery beer, a couple of Ommegang brews, Capt Lawrence 2xIPA, and a few other NY state brews. Everything seemed fresh enough and the selection is decent with some beers you cannot find everywhere. Happy hour has $5 pints and 12oz bottles, so it isn't a bad place to get a drink if you are in the Flatiron district.

The food was decent enough. The guanciale flatbread appetizer was mediocre and they skimped on the meat. For $12 or so that was a little chinzy. The pork sliders were good too but at $15 for two little burgers man I feel like you are gettig ripped off. Another app which we didnt order was their Allen st dumplingns made down in Chinatown for $13. on Allen st, $1 for five. The main courses were a bit more reasonably priced. I had a sea bass which was cooked just right and was good overall.

My other problem with the service was the waitress, she was not the sharpest tool in the shed. She described some pasta as being like panini. Panini? Wow. Service was also slow and innatentive, she missed out on adding a few more Capt Lawrences to the tab by not coming around.

All in all this place seems too expensive and gimmicky. As a native NYer, I know where to get most of their stuff with lesss pretention and better service. As a tourist you might enjoy it more than I did. There are however much better places with better service to boot and just as good beer lists for the money. Try Union Sq Cafe instead.

I will say the music was decent as it ranged from Led Zeppelin to Tribe called Quest and the Beastie Boys. (2,524 characters)

More User Reviews:

Months and months on the road with a day here, day there, back in town, out and about for a little dinner Trouble this evening. Foodie knows of a gastro new with eats and ingredients for them from the 5 boroughs and across New York State. Beer and wine in the same vein and cutesy cocktails named for boroughs, too. Interesting theme I don't recall having been done here before but nothing should surprise me in this town...

Big red awning out front over a dozen sidewalk seating tables. The front entranceway holds a small counter of takeaway foods from Russ & Daughters and the like. Comfy seating on chairs and plush couches amidst candle lit bookshelves in a forward lounge area below the large front windows, and the main seating area running beyond this to the back of this long room. Mostly 2 seaters and some larger round tables seating more up front, and then a pair of long tables seating 10 each to the rear. Along one side of the seating, a 12 seat straight bar with 2 towers of 3 taps each on it. The barback counter holds booze and a glassware pyramid, and then a long shelf of booze over a long shelf of glassware running the length of the bar, and mounted flatscreens in the corners. Just past the bar sits a small 4 seat raw bar overlooking the kitchen prep area and then just beyond these barrings, roughly 9 booths and tables in a corner area. One the other side of the seating area, a rear red room with a single pool table and mounted flat screen, some slight seating and rows of lanterns, large hooks and ice tongs adorning the sills and framings. Just forward this lies a viewable wine room. Lots of wood plank wallings and heavy wood floors. Double brass lamps hang in a row down the center of the room and over the bar, and mounted lamps and coat hooks over the pillars throughout. There's a cupboard piece with seltzer bottles in a row and jars of pickles in the corner near the kitchen, and other cupboards on the far side of the room with canned & bottled vegetables, condiments and sauces. Movable racks along the back wall hold New York State micros in configurations of cases, 6 packs, 4 packs and singles; cans, bottled 12's and 22's, and growlers.

Instead of a basket of bread for the table, we were dealt a jar of Guss' pickles (Carrots, celery, tomatoes and green beans in a spicy brine). I started with braised coriander bacon with morels, spring pea salad and pea puree (quite good), and she had the chilled sweet corn broth with crabmeat & avocado soup. For entrees, I ordered the spicy pork sliders; one topped with bacon relish, the other with a spicy cole slaw (also, very good), and she had the fried Bobo Farms buttermilk chicken, with a macaroni & cheese pancake, and braised greens in New York State maple syrup. For dessert, I had the chocolate malt ice cream with a butterscotch sauce, and she had the salted caramel ice cream with a sick homemade thick caramel sauce. Outstanding.

And then I heard the Barrett... "And then one day, hooray, another way for gnomes to say "Hoooray". Yeah, they're playing old Pink Floyd here; that works just fine for me. The place was comfortable and service was excellent. I was quite pleased with my meal and I'm liking the beer thing they do. Good view of the city from here. (3,808 characters)